Scarlet Witch
The Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) is a human-mutant superhero currently serving as a member of the Avengers. Her mutant abilities allow her to control chaos magic and cast hexes. Biography Early Life Wanda Maximoff and her twin brother, Pietro, were born on Wundagore Mountain in Transia, located in Eastern Europe. The twins are the biological children of controversial mutant leader Magneto and his wife, Magda. Fearful of her husband after an outburst of his mutant powers, she fled to Wundagore Mountain and gave birth to the twins, dying shortly after. The twins were placed in the care of a Romani couple, Django and Marya Maximoff, who raised the twins as their own. The family lived a peaceful life, even as the twins' mutant powers manifested in their adolescent years. One day, the camp at which the Maximoff family's tribe lived at was attacked by a mob of nearby villagers, fueled by racist aggression toward the Romani. Django and Marya urged the twins to escape as the camp was set ablaze. Using his superhuman speed, Pietro helped Wanda escape. The twins wandered through Central Europe for the next two years, using their mutant powers to acquire food and shelter in numerous cities and towns. Eventually, the twins decided to leave mainland Europe and land in London, England. X-Men Legends For the next three years, Wanda and Pietro live relatively normal lives in London. Anti-mutant sentiments had begun to grow more mainstream and violent in Europe, as it had worldwide. The twins soon realized that the superhuman abilities they've had since adolescence were from an X-gene, making them mutants. As actions committed by the Brotherhood of Mutants grew to international attention, the twins interest in their powers resulted in limited exploration of their powers within the confines of their flat. When Magneto is freed from his imprisonment on the U.S.S. Arbiter and starts to televise his speeches and demands from the human population, Wanda and Pietro begin to admire and idolize the powerful mutant unashamed of his powers, not knowing him to be their biological father. When Magneto uses his powers to cover the Earth's atmosphere with asteroids, resulting in worldwide darkness and temperature drop, anti-mutant sentiments reach a boiling point in the United States and the American government issues Sentinels from the military's newly-revived Sentinel program to openly hunt mutants in major cities, namely New York City, in an act of retaliation against Magneto. Following suit, major European nations approve of Sentinel programs and begin the hunting of mutants in major European cities, including Berlin, Moscow, Paris, Rome, and London. When Sentinels start to hunt and murder mutants in London, Wanda and Pietro feel the call to action and use their powers to combat the Sentinels openly in the streets and protect mutants, mirroring the actions of the X-Men in New York City. The twins' vigilantism gain them attention from British anti-mutant forces, resulting in their eventual capture and arrest, cementing the twins' distrust of humans. Wanda and Pietro are imprisoned until the X-Men defeat Master Mold and prevent Asteroid M from crashing into the Earth, after which the twins were released and excused by the British government. Upon their release, the twins discover that they had become popular among the mutant communities in England, who consider them to be heroes. This newfound popularity reaches Professor Charles Xavier's attention who, with the aid of Cerebro, identifies their location. Xavier, Cyclops, and Storm arrive in London and offer Wanda and Pietro a home at the Xavier Institute and spots on the X-Men team. As the X-Men initiate their proposal, Magneto appears. Magneto reveals that, with the aid of the mutant Destiny, he has learned that he is Wanda and Pietro's biological father. He offers them not only a place in his Brotherhood of Mutants, but also for the twins to join his side in ruling the newly created Genosha: a sovereign nation for mutants ruled by Magneto, given to him by the United Nations as reparations for past mutant oppression and violence. Due to the twin's initial skepticism, Xavier confirms that Magneto's allegation of parentage are true by accessing their earliest memories with his telepathic abilities. Once Magneto's claim is proven true, Wanda and Pietro decide to join their father. The X-Men concede, mostly due to Xavier's respect for his old friend and his reunited family. Once Genosha is fully established and citizenship begins, Wanda and Pietro assist their father in leading the nation by serving on the Genoshan Council. They are also able to explore the full extent of their mutant abilities by training under members of the Brotherhood when not attending to diplomatic duties. A combination of the twins being Magneto's children, members of the Genoshan Council, and their heroic actions during the London Riots result in Wanda and Pietro being beloved by the people of Genosha and are treated like royalty, as Magneto is. X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse A year passes, with Magneto focused on governing Genosha and no terrorist activity from the Brotherhood of Mutants, who enjoy lives of luxury under Magneto's rule. However, an unexpected attack from mutant supervillain Apocalypse leaves Genosha in ruins. While the Genoshan military almost had the upper hand against Apocalypse's forces, an EMP is dropped on the battlefield, completely decimating both forces and allowing Apocalypse to overtake Genosha. Wanda and Pietro assist in evacuating the Genoshan citizens, attempting to garrison them in Magneto's private sanctuary away from the main city. During the invasion, Pietro is kidnapped by Apocalypse, much to Wanda's dismay. The rest of the Brotherhood members, including Wanda and her father, barely escape to the sanctuary in time. Upon receiving a transmission from the X-Man Cyclops that Xavier and X-Man Polaris have been kidnapped by Apocalypse not too long after the invasion of Genosha, Magneto, Mystique, and Sabretooth assist the X-Men in freeing Xavier. In turn, Magneto asks that the X-Men aid he and the Brotherhood in regaining Genosha and freeing Pietro from Apocalypse. Wanda and her father fight alongside the X-Men in a prolonged battle against Apocalypse, his Horsemen, and his forces. She enjoys the company of the X-Men, which she finds a pleasant change from the usual pessimism and elitism exhibited by Toad, Juggernaut, Blob, Pyro, and Mystique. In addition, Wanda and Pietro never faced against the X-Men as members of the Brotherhood, negating any reason for hostility toward the superhero team. Apocalypse is eventually defeated in Egypt and Pietro is freed from the supervillain's confines, reuniting Wanda with her brother. Inspired by her time alongside the X-Men, Wanda tells her father that she will not be coming back to Genosha with him and the Brotherhood but instead wishes to return to London, equipped with more life experience and a better understanding of her powers than before. While initially angry with her decision, Magneto ultimately accepts her choice and affirms that she will always have a place in Genosha by his side. In addition, he reminds Wanda to be wary of humans and always remember the atrocities that they have committed against mutants. Much to both Wanda's and Magneto's surprise, Pietro admits he desires to stay in Genosha and help rebuild the nation. Realizing this will be the first time that they have lived their lives apart since birth, Wanda gives an emotional goodbye to her brother and father, making her trip back to London. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Wanda lives a comfortable life being independent for the first time in her life. Positive relations between humans and mutants have grown considerably since she previously lived in London. Additionally, she is highly respected and idolized by the mutant population of England, due to her efforts during the London Riots and her aid in the defeat of Apocalypse. Wanda acts as a freelance superhero, assisting other mutants and heroes against villains and evil when necessary. She maintains her fighting skills by training with other heroes like the X-Man Psylocke, who occasionally returns to England. She also befriends the Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen Strange, and begins to explore the magical qualities that her mutant abilities provide. When the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier U.N.N. Alpha is attacked by the forces of Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil, Director Nick Fury sends a distress call to all available superhumans. Wanda receives the call, but by the time she is able to be in New York City, the Helicarrier has been saved. However, she is encouraged to stay and join the temporary task force team Fury has created, with permission of the American government and S.H.I.E.L.D. Wanda accompanies the task force team on multiple missions, proving to be most useful when magic is involved, such as in Mephisto's Realm and assisting Doctor Strange and Clea in their use of mystic arcana. In addition, she enjoys reuniting and fighting alongside the X-Men once again. As part of the select group of heroes saved from death by Uatu the Watcher at the hands of Doctor Doom, Wanda discovers that Doom, with his now god-like powers, has defeated and corrupted the remaining superhumans on Earth, including her father, Magneto, and brother, Pietro. Now with a personal vengeance, she vows to destroy Doom and save not only Earth but the entire universe from his maniacal power-hungry actions. The task force team eventually returns to Earth to nullify Doctor Doom of his powers and defeat him, in which they succeed. With Doom destroyed and Odin's powers restored, Wanda is reunited with her father and brother, as the world begins the process of returning to normal. Though Fury's task force team is ordered to be officially disbanded after the defeat of Doctor Doom, he covertly assembles the Avengers Initiative, alongside Tony Stark. Though Wanda distrusts Fury and Stark, she is convinced by Captain America to join the team. Powers and Abilities Wanda's basic mutant power is her ability to manipulate reality and probability. Her most frequent offensive attack are Hex Bolts, which contain destructive chaos magic that Wanda can cast from her hands. While these projectiles mostly manifest as spheres and bolts, they can also take the form of beams or flames. In addition to Hex Bolts, Wanda can alter reality and, with the aid of magic, can affect enemies by neutralizing weapons, shrinking or transforming enemies into objects, and catching items on fire. Regarding defensive abilities, she can change the probability of events, making certain outcomes more or less probable. Through her studies with Doctor Strange, she has learned the magic of healing, can create personal force fields, and can fly. In addition to her mutant and magic abilities, she has been trained in different hand-to-hand combat styles by Mystique and Captain America. __FORCETOC__ Category:Female characters Category:Human-Mutant characters Category:Avengers Category:Members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants